LINKBOX 9000i HD Review

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Twice I've had a strange problem come up. Ignore the box for a few days, turn it on, and have audio but no video on any channel. The OSD is very dark (like the brightness was turned down) but usable.

Kitty, this is a long-shot. By chance is it cold in that room? My 32' RCA did that when the room was below say 45 degrees. (I forget the exact temp) Even colder and it would not turn on at all until the room was warm. I discovered that before moving in permanently. I'd set the heat just high enough to keep the pipes from freezing until I came back to work again.

When ever I tried to turn the tv on before it was warm enough... it was a PITA to get it working again. Would have to unplug it and restart several times to get it to function AFTER the room was warm. One time I thought the tv was ruined.

That was back before I had an FTA receiver, only OTA. So it was only tv related.
 
Kitty, this is a long-shot. By chance is it cold in that room? My 32' RCA did that when the room was below say 45 degrees. (I forget the exact temp) Even colder and it would not turn on at all until the room was warm. I discovered that before moving in permanently. I'd set the heat just high enough to keep the pipes from freezing until I came back to work again.

When ever I tried to turn the tv on before it was warm enough... it was a PITA to get it working again. Would have to unplug it and restart several times to get it to function AFTER the room was warm. One time I thought the tv was ruined.

That was back before I had an FTA receiver, only OTA. So it was only tv related.

Mid-60's, not that chilly. It's only happened twice, so I wonder if maybe it was the opposite problem. I may have left it on for days, and being stacked with a warm cable modem may have gotten it too hot.
 
So, what's the "bottom line" on this STB? Can someone create a pro and con listing? And is there a place where different STBs are compared in a table format (like I see for other electronic devices - i.e. routers, etc)? I'm not certain so I want to ask: can this STB pick up 4K FTA?
 
Can this box be remotely controlled with a smartphone over the LAN? Since today's smartphones don't have an IR blaster that would be a really nice feature to have.
 
Off the top of my head:

Pros:
-no motor issues
-local model can use broadcast EPG
-thorough blind scan
-outputs both analog and hdmi at the same time
-actually gets firmware updates
-no stupidity in operation (up is actually up, down is actually down in all menus)
-puts out enough voltage to run a USB hard drive with no external power

Cons:
-in my case, still has a clock issue. Supposedly it's been fixed in newer firmware, but my boxes keeps syncing it's clock to whatever bird or local TV station it's tuned to. I can reset it to internet time if I want it to DVR correctly
-overwrites channel names every time you blind scan a bird
-hitting the info button doesn't tell you if a channel is qpsk, 8psk, etc

Still love the box until the perfect one comes out
 
OK. I'm gonna take the plunge even though it isn't 4K and only a 100 Mb LAN connection. I don't have a 4K TV yet, anyway. Not sure if I'll really notice the difference. This reminds me of a Red Green episode where he says that even though he finally has the money to buy the good stuff in his old age, his hearing and vision sucks.
 
I've been using 2 Linkbox's 9000 since they came out. One for Ku Band, the other for C-Band. They are very good recievers, some of the more half decent ones I've seen in awhile. They work very well for me, no issues at all, they put out a great HDMI Picture, and they are made in Korea; which is pretty good quality. The only downside for me is the silly name they chose for such a nice reciever. I just gave my motorized C-Band Dish and Linkbox reciever to my folks to enjoy, so now I'm just back to Ku again.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using SatelliteGuys mobile app
 
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I had heard something about the clock issue. I just ordered the 9000i but without the local option - had to toss a coin to decide whether to spend the extra $20. Anyway, when I get this thing, I hope that it can be setup to sync the clock to an internet source only.

Anyway, I need to buy all my "toys" now since next year I have to go on Medicare and get insurance for the rest of the family and I just read an article at foxbusiness.com that says Nebraska is in the top 4 states with the most expensive insurance premiums - yep, it's bad folks. I suppose that I should stop buying toys now and save more money. I guess I could go back to work. :eek:
 
I had heard something about the clock issue. I just ordered the 9000i but without the local option - had to toss a coin to decide whether to spend the extra $20. Anyway, when I get this thing, I hope that it can be setup to sync the clock to an internet source only.

Anyway, I need to buy all my "toys" now since next year I have to go on Medicare and get insurance for the rest of the family and I just read an article at foxbusiness.com that says Nebraska is in the top 4 states with the most expensive insurance premiums - yep, it's bad folks. I suppose that I should stop buying toys now and save more money. I guess I could go back to work. :eek:
I flipped a coin and selected the local option when I bought mine. I had no idea there were 35 OTA channels available in my area. I watch them a lot more than I thought that I would. Some of them are in HD and look as clear as the same news programs that I watch on 99W.

Just my $0.02
Norman
 
I just got my 9000i today and I'm disappointed. It has the latest firmware. The time is totally inaccurate and 1080p looks like you-know-what. I had to go to 1080i to get a decent picture. 720p looks OK though. Someone needs to do a much better job before selling this stuff. At least make the features work. I'm not sure if the signal quality meter is accurate, also. The IPTV isn't anything to write home about either. It could be that this thing is broken - either that or it's a poor design.
 
Is it normal for Hypermegasat to be difficult to contact? They never answer the phone so I have to leave a message. I sent an e-mail also. I hope that I can return this 9000i for a refund.
 
No not normally, how long has it been since you sent the email?
 
I got a response to my e-mail. The guy at Hypermegasat wrote that the time can be set to sync to the internet and that the PVR can be set to a future date and time. I haven't been able to keep the time set correctly - even the minutes aren't anywhere close to where they should be. Which means that the PVR function is essentially useless. Besides, I don't see anywhere where you can set a scheduled record time for the PVR. Even the manual doesn't indicate that the PVR can be set for a future day and/or time - only that you can record a program, but like I said I don't see a way to schedule a recording. If there is a way, it certainly isn't obvious - the manual certainly doesn't give any clues. Anyone know how to get the time to stay within a minute of the correct time or how to schedule a recording? The e-mail I got says to call them but I've never been able to get them to answer their phone. Anyway, if no one knows how to get this thing working properly, then I'm sending this thing back to Hypermegasat tomorrow for a refund.
 
Johnny, I don't bother with recording... so never tested this myself:

9000i Manual (9000i Local manual may be different?)
Beginning on the bottom of page 15 in the Manual.
3.4.5 Time Setting
It explains how to setup timer events. Either Off, Once, or Daily.
 
Don't have a 9000i in front of me, but here is what I recall.

Set Internet time: (receiver must be set-up to your router fixed or DHCP)
Menu/System/Local time setting
GMT Usage: On
GMT Offset: Your Time Zone (UTC time offset)
Summer Time: On or Off (Daylight Savings)
Press the red button to sync the time to IP. STB stays in sync in standby mode.

DVR Timer Setting: (must have formatted drive attached)
Tune the channel to record
Menu/System/Timer Setting
Select timer to preset, and click
Timer Mode: once or daily
Recording: On
Wakeup Date: date to DVR
Duration: length of program
Save
 
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Certainly not the way I would design the software. But, I'll take one more stab at this. I did setup the time the way you said but my time still gets way off. It would have been nice to be able to manually setup the time standard.
 
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